Not everyone is a people person, so we wanted to find the best jobs for people who prefer to avoid frequent communication.

To rank these jobs, we used data from O*NET Online, a U.S. Department of Labor database with information on hundreds of jobs.

O*NET gives scores between zero and 100 to occupations for a range of characteristics, based on surveys of employees in those jobs and input from professional job analysts.

We took O*NET's measures of the importance of four communication skills: communicating with people inside the organization, communicating with people outside the organization, writing, and public speaking, and averaged together the scores for each job. Jobs were ranked better if that average score was lower.

15. Locomotive Engineers

Why they're on the list: Locomotive engineers have very little need for communicating with people outside their organizations, and basically zero public speaking duties.

14. Mining Roof Bolters

Reuters/Laszlo Balogh

2013 median salary: $54,780

What they do: Install bolts in the roofs of mines for structural support

Why they're on the list: While communicating with coworkers is somewhat important for roof bolters, they have almost no contact with people outside the mine, and a below average amount of writing required in the job.

12 (tie). Applications Software Developers

What they do: Develop software applications targeted to end-users and clients

Why they're on the list: As with many of these jobs, communication within the organization is somewhat important. Much software development is done in teams, and keeping members of the team coordinated is crucial to many projects. However, public speaking is unimportant for app developers, and writing and communicating with people outside the organization is not typically emphasized.

What they do: Inspect and monitor transportation equipment to ensure safety and regulatory compliance

Why they're on the list: O*Net's data indicates that public speaking is less important in this job than in almost any other. The job also received low rankings in external communication and writing. Again, internal communication does have some importance in this job, although less than in other careers.

11. Loading Machine Operators, Underground Mining

Reuters/Laszlo Balogh

2013 median salary: $50,640

What they do: Use machines to load rock, ore, or coal onto conveyors or mine cars

Why they're on the list: Very few of the communications skills we considered are needed in this position. Writing in particular is much less important in this job than in most other occupations.

10. Podiatrists

Why they're on the list: While writing is a bit more important for podiatrists than for many of the other jobs on this list, communication with people within the organization is less important than in most careers.

9. Dermatologists

Why they're on the list: While communications skills in general are more important for dermatologists than for most of the other jobs on this list, they are much less important than in other jobs in this pay range.

4. Nurse Anesthetists

What they do: Administer anesthetics and monitor patients during and after surgery

Why they're on the list: While internal communication is important, talking to people outside the organization, public speaking, and writing are not as necessary in this job as in other high-paying careers.